In Hushed Whispers & Soft Kisses
by NCIS-Addict-4427
Summary: This is a companion piece to KBeckett0334's story "In Between." I loved her piece so much I was inspired to write another chapter. If you haven't read that story, I highly suggest reading it first.


**I wrote this as a companion piece to KBeckett0334's story "In Between." It probably only makes sense if you've read her story, so I suggest doing so. I dedicate this to her, for inspiring me to actually do something semi-productive while I sit home due to Hurricane Sandy & school cancellations. KBeckett0334, I hope you like it! Same goes for everyone else reading it! Enjoy!**

* * *

**In Hushed Whispers & Soft Kisses**

She awakes with a starts, sitting straight up in bed, breath ragged. Heart pounding, and drenched in a thin layer of sweat. She whips around to look at her husband, who's lying peacefully, oblivious, alongside her.

And then she begins to sob, her body wracked in tears, trembling, as she buries her head in her hands. The shaking of the bed as she cries wakes Rick from his slumber. He tries to wipe the sleep from his eyes, tries to make sense of the sight before him. As coherent thought returns to him, he reaches out to comfort his wife. "Katie, what's wrong?" he asks, sitting up so he could rub soothing circles on her back.

"Rick..." It comes out as a strangled sob, and she buries her nose into the crook of his neck. They stay like that for a while- to her it feels like hours when it's really only been minutes- her sobbing into his shirt, and him rubbing her back and whispering sweet nothings into her ear to try and calm her.

"Kate, sweetheart." He forces her to look up at him. "What's wrong? What happened? What can I do?"

"Oh, Rick," she sighs, hiccuping a bit. "I had this terrible nightmare. I...I died while giving birth to the baby." His heart sank, but he let her continue. "I became a ghost. I could see you two, watch you rock her to sleep, read her bedtime stories. I could see you cry, hear you tell me you loved me. But I couldn't say it back. I wasn't there, couldn't hold you, couldn't touch you..." The tears started flowing again in full force, like another tidal wave had just crashed against the shore.

"Honey, that's awful. But I'm right here. _We're _here, together. It wasn't real."

"But what if it comes true?" Her voice was small, the fear she was trying desperately to mask coming through in her words. It broke his heart; He knew Kate's biggest fear was not being there for the baby. She hated the thought of her child losing its mother the same way she had.

"Katie, it won't. You're alright. The doctor says you're perfect. You two are gonna be just fine," he declared, resting a hand on Kate's swollen stomach, and pressing a kiss to her temple. She was 32 weeks along, due any day now. _She should be excited, not scared, _he thought. They were going to be parents! After four years of dancing around one another, two years of stolen kisses, a year of engagement, and three years of marriage and failed attempts, they were _finally _having a baby. A little girl that he pictured having her mommy's eyes and curls, but his smile; her wit and his imagination. "And when this baby come, we're going to be a happy family for the rest of our lives." The baby kicked in agreement, and they both laughed. "See? Even she thinks I'm right," he said triumphantly, glad his unborn daughter was already taking his side.

"She'll learn very quickly that most of the time you're not," she teased.

"I resent that."

"Don't worry, I got used to you being wrong a while ago."

"Oh yea?" He argued. "When?"

"When you kept suggesting that the CIA was always behind the murder."

"I was right eventually, wasn't I?" he challenged.

She chose to ignore him for the moment. "Castle, let's go back to bed."

"Yes, dear," he joked, like the good- no, _amazing-_ husband he was.

They both laid back down, Kate pressed against him as much as she could be with her protruding baby bump. They were both about to doze off when Kate spoke again. "Rick?"

"Yes, love?"

"You are eventually right."

"Am I?"

She could feel the smirk spreading across his face in the dark, but she decided to indulge him anyway. "You were right about us spending the rest of our lives together."

"Indeed I was."

"And you were right about it finally happening for us." They had been trying for two years, unsuccessfully, to have a baby. Every time Kate was ready to give up, he took her hands, looked into her eyes, and told her that it would happen when the time was right, and that they should keep trying.

"That's one thing I am definitely glad I was right about." His arms tightened around her, and she curled closer into his body.

"I love you, Richard Castle."

"And I love you, Katherine Beckett." He leaned down to press a soft, tender kiss to her lips. She responded in kind, trying to convey all the love and admiration she felt for him and how thankful she was for him through that one kiss.

She pulled apart and smiled. "You know better than anyone that it's Katherine Castle now."

"That I do," he whispered, as they both succumbed to the sleep that was trying to take hold. "That I do."

* * *

**Love it? Hate it? Drop a line!**


End file.
